


Heartache in the Director's Chair

by Emmybazy



Series: Hollywood Cake [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hollywood, M/M, Oblivious!Calum, Pining!Luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-20 01:34:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1491877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmybazy/pseuds/Emmybazy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Calum wants to make it as an actor. His world gets turned upside down when Ashton Irwin, the executive producer, casts him to play the lead in a movie with the famous actor, Michael Clifford directed by Hollywoods golden boy director, Luke Hemmings. Luke Hemmings' reputation of being cool, calm, and collected precedes him, so why is he treating Calum so oddly?</p>
<p>Or; Luke is smitten by Calum and Calum is oblivious. They make a movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heartache in the Director's Chair

**Author's Note:**

> Heartache on the Big Screen really messed me up.
> 
> Anyways, the idea of Calum, an actor, unknowingly riling up a suave director Luke and making him all school girl nervous got in my head and wouldn't leave. I made it as ridiculous as I possibly could because I just wanted to make myself laugh. 
> 
> Hope you like it!
> 
> P.S I do not own anything or anyone mentioned!

Calum is sitting on his couch, looking through audition times his agents sent in an email. They’re not big roles. Nothing new.

Calum thought moving to Hollywood would be easy. In Australia, he had had a small role on a TV show for a few seasons and he had done a few commercials. One of his directors had told him that a move might be beneficial to his career, ‘they’ll love you’re accent’ she said, ‘plus you’re so cute to boot.’ She had been wrong. He had played a few small parts here and there on crime dramas, over the past two years in Hollywood. His biggest role had been as the first murder victim in a horror film called “Attack of the Cheerleaders.” He had played a football star who had gotten killed by the cheerleaders when they had made a pact to kill all the people who had ever wronged them. Really wonderful cinema.

At 25, he could still pull off high schooler, but not for much longer. He needed a big break and he needed it now. If he didn’t get a good part soon he probably wouldn’t get a role until he could pull off hot dad. Calum’s phone starts ringing. He doesn’t recognize the number on the screen, but what the hell. If it’s a telemarketer he’ll practice his old man voice and see if he can make them hang up first.

“Hello?” He picks up putting a rasp in his tone.

“Hello! Is Calum Hood there?” It’s a loud, bright, Aussie voice on the other end. Calum thinks he’s heard it before but he can’t place it. He quickly adjusts his own voice.

“This is he. Sorry about that.”

The voice on the other end laughs. “No worries mate. This is Ashton Irwin. I’m calling about your audition with Hi or Hey productions a few weeks ago.”

Calum remembers the audition. It had been for a major film, written and directed by Luke Hemmings. Calum doesn’t know much about Luke Hemmings, but knows he’s some big shot in the business. When Calum’s agent had told him she’d gotten him an audition, Calum had been shocked he’d even get a chance in front of the casting panel.

The audition had been for a small part, the comic relief of the movie. He hadn’t been expecting a call back, it was obvious he wasn’t suited for the part two seconds into the audition. The role was a bad boy who put the fear into anyone he met with just a look but constantly found himself in awkward situations. Calum couldn’t even pull off sometimes-not-nice guy. The cold read had been awkward.

Before he could leave, a voice had called from the panel of casting directors. “Hey, you’re the guy from that cheerleader flick!”

Calum had responded. “Yeah, that’s me.” He had felt small in the room but the guy behind the table had given him a wide grin.

“I loved that movie. It was hilarious when they tossed you off the bleachers.” Not what the director had had in mind, but it worked. “You’re from Oz too? Whereabouts?”

“Sydney.” Calum hadn’t really known how in depth an answer to give, and he could see the other people on the panel were giving this guy, who was wearing a black hat over his fluffy hair, funny looks.

“Me too. Good to hear a familiar accent. We’ll let you know about the part, but have a good day mate, yeah?” Calum had thanked him and left, knowing he wouldn’t hear from them again. Except, now, he is sitting on his couch in sweats talking to Ashton Irwin, who apparently was the guy from the casting panel, about his audition.

“Nice to hear from you, what do you need me for?” Calum assumes they’ll ask him to come in as an extra or something.

“Well, I’ve got some bad news and good news. Bad news, you didn’t get the part of Danny.” Calum is completely unsurprised.

“I figured, the part didn’t feel right for me. Do you need me as a stunt double?” It wasn’t his preferred role but he’d done it before when he was low on cash and high on bills.

“Actually, no.” Ashton continued. “After you came in, I was hit by inspiration. We needed an Aussie for the protagonist. I talked to Luke and he said he liked the idea. We called in a bunch of actors and none of them felt right, not even Michael Clifford.” Calum’s eyes widened. Michael Clifford? But Michael Clifford could play anything. He could do romantic hero, villain, hell, he’d gotten an oscar for his part in the last Luke Hemmings’ film where he’d played a married man having a sexuality crisis. Calum had followed Michael Clifford’s career steadily, there was no part Michael Clifford couldn’t play. Ashton was still talking. “We got him for another part, but anyways. I remembered you and thought you’d be perfect for the part. We want you to play the role of Ian.”

Calum freezes. Ian? That’s the lead. Like a 'ridiculous amount of screen time and storyline focused around the character' lead. The movie was tentatively titled _Ian on Tuesdays_. Holy Fuck. “What?” Calum breathes.

Ashton repeats himself like the reason why Calum is freaking out is because Calum didn’t hear him. “We want you for Ian. Will that work with your schedule? Are you involved in any projects right now? We really want to start filming first thing next week. We were going to do the table read on Thursday? Does that work for you?”

Calum’s head is spinning. “Do you need me to come in and read for you or something? Wait, is this a joke?”

Ashton tone gets more serious. “No, this is my decision. I’ve got a gut feeling about this and I’m taking a chance on you Calum Hood. You going to take it?”

Calum would literally be the stupidest person in the world to say no to that question. “Absolutely. Fuck yes.”

Ashton laughs like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard. “Good, I’ll send you the script and information on where we’re meeting. All the business things. Really looking forward to working with you Calum, I’ll see you in a few days.”

“You too. Thank you so much.” Ashton hangs up and Calum is left standing there. He has no idea when he stood up and he doesn’t think he can move. He’s going to play the lead in the next Luke Hemmings film.

*****

An hour later, Calum feels much better. After standing for about fifteen minutes while barely breathing, he’d gotten a slightly better grip on reality. He called all his family and friends to ensure this isn’t some ridiculously, unfunny, convoluted joke. They all reassured him that they had nothing to do with the call. After telling his mother the exciting news, Calum opened his email. He’s not proud of the squeal he let out when he saw the multiple emails from Ashton Irwin.

Calum’s about 30 pages into the script. And it’s good. This Luke Hemmings guy is kind of brilliant. It’s the story about a college student and his best friend, both from Australia, deciding to take a year to drive around the United States. They soon realize they can’t last long on what they’d saved up so they stop in a small town in northern California and end up working at a diner. The themes focus on what masculinity and femininity really mean and how the ideas have been warped by society and the pressures to fit into a certain cookie cutter image of a man or a woman. Besides Calum’s character and Michael Clifford’s character (HOLY GOD Calum is going to be in a film with Michael Clifford) the cast is primarily women, even Danny has been changed to Donna. It’s a terribly interesting idea and Calum has to bite his knuckle to not smile the entire time he’s reading the script.

The phone rings again. Thinking it’s a friend calling to congratulate him or his agent, Calum just picks up. “Heylo?”

“Is this Calum Hood?” That’s Michael Clifford. Calum is on the phone with Michael Clifford. How is this his life?

“Oh my god. Michael Clifford. I’m your biggest fan ever. So honored to even be talking to you right now.” Calum’s words are hurried as he tries to jam as much information into as few moments as possible. He doesn’t want to take up anymore of The Michael Clifford’s time than he has to.

“Thanks man, I’m excited to work with you. Are you free tomorrow?” Calum answers quite eagerly.

“Yes. Yes. Literally all day. Whatever you need me to do I can do it.” Calum is literally leaning forward in his seat, stumbling over his words as Michael Clifford cuts him off with a laugh.

“I wanted to see if you wanted to get together for coffee. If we’re going to play long time friends I want to get to know you better. I’m one of those actors.”

Calum freezes. He wants nothing more than to have coffee with Michael Clifford tomorrow. “Yes, of course. Literally whenever you want to. Where ever.”

“There’s this little coffee shop near my condo downtown. Meet me there at 1? I’ll text you the address.”

“Yes. Definitely. I will be there. Absolutely. I can’t wait.”

“Me too. I’ll see you tomorrow Calum.”

“Bye Mr. Clifford.”

“Call me Mikey. All my friends do.” Michael Clifford hangs up. Calum stands up, with absolutely no control over his body, and starts dancing. Just throwing his limbs in random directions. He is starring with Michael Clifford in a Luke Hemmings film. Life will never be the same.

*****

Calum shows up at the cafe ten minutes early. He looks up at the fancy board not knowing what to order and waits. He’s wearing his favorite outfit, which he realizes probably wasn’t the best idea since he’s going to meet the entire cast tomorrow. He’s either going to end up wearing the same thing twice and Michael Clifford is going to judge him and hate him and force people to fire him or he’ll look less than his best tomorrow. But he doesn’t have time to change, so he’s just going to have to deal with that later.

Calum is looking at the board to see what weird fancy coffee drink he should order to impress Michael Clifford, when the baristas start muttering and he hears clearly the words “regular” and “clifford.” He turns around to see Michael Clifford, in real time, walking into the cafe. Michael Clifford’s hair is dark blue and he’s wearing a sleeveless plaid shirt with black skinnies, super casual. Calum mentally punches himself because why can’t he be effortlessly cool like Michael Clifford?

Michael Clifford looks around the cafe, when his eyes land on Calum he smiles wide. “Early, I like that in a person. Mikey Clifford. Nice to meet you Calum.” Michael Clifford extends his hand to Calum and Calum is literally frozen in place. He looks at the out stretched hand, up at Michael Clifford’s face, then down at the hand again before he finally gets a grip and gets a grip on the hand. He tries his best to give a good shake and make a good impression but he’s fangirling too hard to put in too much effort.

“How’d you know I was me?” Calum wonders if Ashton sent over his embarrassing audition tapes to everyone on the cast or something so they’d know how awkward he was.

“I Facebook stalked you last night.” Calum’s heart stops. He’s sure of it. “Do you know what you’re getting?”

“No idea. I don’t drink much coffee.”

“Good for you, wish I could say the same. The mocha is good, it’s like a hot chocolate with a bit of a coffee taste.” Michael Clifford-well, just Michael walks up to the barista. “I’m going to have a vanilla latte, and my friend...” He looks over at Calum, waiting for him to order. Calum panics. Should he say what Michael said? Or will that make him seem like a follower? But is it offensive if he doesn’t order what he said?

“Whatever you said, I’ll have that.”

He goes to take out his wallet and Michael shakes his head at him. “I’ve got it.” To the barista he says, “And a mocha latte. Put it on my tab.”

Calum’s jaw drops. “You have a tab at a cafe?”

Michael smiles and chuckles. “I’m telling you, I drink so much coffee. It’s easier for them to swipe my card once a month than six times a day.”

They grab their drinks and head for a secluded booth in a corner. Calum takes a sip of his drink and it’s actually quite good. “Thanks for the recommendation. I would’ve been lost without your advice.”

Michael nods and drinks his own drink. “Tell me about yourself. I looked up your IMDb page last night, what was it like to play a murderer? I’ve never done that before.”

They talk past roles for awhile, comparing similar experiences and pet peeves when it comes to directors and co stars. They laugh just as much as they talk and they don’t actually start talking about the Luke Hemmings script and characters until Michael is on his second latte and Calum has switched from coffee to tea.

“I’ve got to say, I’m so excited to work with Luke again. Last time was great. He really respects what you do with the character and the flavor you bring while also guiding in the right direction. I mean, he knows the characters so well since he writes them. And his dialogue is fantastic, he writes these great flawed and realistic people.” Michael is talking with his hands and getting excited for the next day.

“What else has he done? I’ve only see the movies that have won awards.” Calum has seen the movie Michael was in and the movie from a few years before that about a dysfunctional family the week before the youngest daughter’s wedding. Both had been great, but he wanted to know some other movies that he could check out later and see who he’s working with.

“That’s the thing, he doesn’t have any other movies.” Michael is leaning forward like this is the most impressive thing ever. Which, ok, it kind of is. “He literally is two for two. He’s just turned twenty five and he’s never made a movie that hasn’t been nominated for at least one Oscar! Not many people can say that.” Michael punctuates his statement with a sip from his drink.

“Are you serious? He’s only twenty five?” Calum is stunned. He’d expected some fifty year old with a bald spot and pince nez in a black turtle neck. This guy must be really brilliant to have such a good track record already.

“That’s not even the half of it.” Michael is continuing, using his coffee cup to outline the invisible words dropping from his mouth. “He’s so in control. It’s crazy, he’ll be on a set with the best equipment and people money can buy, men and women twice his age who were in the business when he was born, they go to him with questions. And he’s always so- confident. The game this guy has is ridiculous. He never has a hair out of place and his outfits are always on point. One night we went to a bar and he turned down six people in an hour. An hour! And it was a celebrity bar! It was hilarious. He blames it on the accent, he’s an Aussie too, but it’s more than that. He’s the most put together person I’ve ever met and he is constantly on top of his shit. Filming is going to be a piece of cake.”

Michael is making Calum both nervous and excited. Calum can’t believe he actually gets to work with a guy like this, Calum has never been on top of his shit. And that’s why he’s nervous. What if Luke Hemmings takes one look at him and realizes they’re not going to be compatible working together? “Well, I hope everything goes well.” Calum hunches over.

Michael notices his worry. “Hey, everything is going to be great. For your first major shoot, you lucked out with directors.” Michael smiles and clinks his glass against Calum’s.

They end up staying until they’ve both drank far too much caffeine and everything seems to be funny. They laugh maniacally as they leave the cafe and the people who pass on the street probably assume their drunk.

“Bring it in friend.” Michael opens his arms and Calum readily accepts the hug. “Tomorrow’s going to be great, just you see. Get a good night’s rest.”

“You too Mikey. I’ll see you in the AM!” Calum says as he begins to walk away.

Michael laughs hard. “See you in the AM, that’s hilarious. Bye Calum!” He turns and begins to walk in the opposite direction. Calum didn’t know when it happened, but somewhere over the course of the last few hours he became friends with Michael Clifford.

****

Calum arrives early for the table read. It’s 8:15 at the studio and he decides to wander around before he has to be at the conference room at 9:00. He’s walking down an empty corridor with all the studio’s movie posters on the walls. There are some really good titles, films that had made Calum cry, or fueled his want to be an actor. A film that he was going to be in might have a poster in this hall one day.

He stumbles upon a directory, it has all the people who work in the buildings name’s and duties listed as well as their extension. Calum sees a familiar name, Ashton Irwin, and notes that he is a producer. Ashton’s probably the executive producer if he got to make the call about the lead role. Calum remembers that Ashton couldn’t have been older than 30 when they met. The prospect of working with a young team is fantastic to Calum. He hates when people think they’re better or more talented just because they’re older. This film was going to be proof that their generation is just as good as the older ones.

As he’s looking at the list, he hears a crash behind him and someone breathe out an “oof.” When he turns, Calum sees a man in a very very expensive looking suit sprawled out on the ground.

“You ok mate?” Calum bends down to help the man up. He’s tall, a few inches taller than Calum maybe, with blonde hair pushed up in the front and a lip ring. His watch must be worth a couple thousand dollars. When the man looks at Calum his jaw drops and he freezes as he stares at Calum’s face. Calum wonders if he has a zit or something coming in. Wouldn’t that be embarrassing.

“Everything good?” Calum asks and the man seems to shock out of his stupor and starts straightening out his suit.

“Yes!” He says it kind of loud and squeaky. He clears his throat and tries again. “Yes. I’m-yes, fine. I was- I tripped. Sorry.” He clasps his hands in front of him but doesn’t start to walk away yet.

“Lucky you’re alright. Trips can be nasty business.” Calum jokes, trying to break the awkward tension that has settled with the man. The man’s face cracks with a smile and then the hallway is filled with loud clear laughter. The man covers his mouth quickly and his eyes widen.

“Umm, sorry. I’m-I have to- Excuse me-” The man can’t seem to make up his mind on what to do next. Calum’s just standing there waiting for him to walk away so he can go back towards the conference room. He suspects Michael will be there by now. Finally the man makes up his mind. “Bye!” He says a bit too loudly and he rushes away. Calum just shakes his head. There are some odd people in this business.

He finds his way back to the conference room through the winding hallways. Michael is indeed there, sitting in a chair with his name in front of it. The white placards list their name and character. Next to Michael’s card, in front of a red chair, is Calum’s card with his character’s name underneath. This is really happening.

“Mikey!” Calum shouts after a few deep breaths to calm down his glee.

“Calum!” Michael stands up and they meet half way. There are other people in the room who look over at them as they do a bro hug. “You ready for this?”

“Yeah. Let’s do this.”

“That’s what I want to hear. I’ll introduce you to some people.” Michael leads Calum around the room and introduces him to the other people. Michael points around the full room at all the camera men, sound and light operators, cinematographers, producers, but focuses on the other actors. Miranda Jacobs is the girl who plays Donna, she has already won an academy award for her performance in a film a few summers ago. Next is Cynthia, preferred to be called Cindy, Redding who plays Calum’s love interest, Sarah. Cindy had been a child star in a popular sitcom in the early 2000s and was slowly stepping back into the spotlight with a few low budget films. Calum is talking to her when he feels a hand on his shoulder dragging him from the conversation.

“Calum Hood! Ashton Irwin, lovely to see you again.” The bright young man in front of him extends his hand. He has a wide smile on his face and is surrounded by unconfined energy. Calum feels his pulse race with excitement just from standing next to him.

“Mr. Irwin, hello. Thank you again, so much, for this opportunity.” Calum grabs Ashton’s hand in both of his and shakes vigorously.

Ashton laughs and claps his non claimed hand on Calum’s shoulder. “I like your enthusiasm. Call me Ashton. I’d love to chat but we’re about to start. If you could take your seat?” Just as he had arrived, Ashton leaves with a dizzying amount of energy. Calum makes his way back to his seat and slaps Michael on the back. Michael smiles up at him and pats Calum’s designated seat.

Calum is becoming overwhelmed. Placed in front of him is a clean script, various highlighters and pencils, and a glass of mineral water. Faces he has seen on TV and movie screens are sitting around the table looking at him with interest, trying to figure out what is so special about this new actor.

Ashton stands across from Calum in the circle of tables next to an empty chair with the sign for Luke Hemmings in front of it. “Everyone! Everyone settle down. I’d like to introduce you to our wonderful, award winning director. He’s a close personal friend of mine so I’m sure you’re all going to love him. Let me introduce, Luke Hemmings.”

The door behind Ashton opens and the man from earlier walks in. Now, he is collected, the absolute image of confidence. Someone behind Calum sighs longingly as Luke is met by applause. Luke holds out his hands to calm everyone and begins speaking. “Alright. Thanks everyone. Good to have you on board. I’m terribly excited to work with all of you. This project means a lot to me and I’m sure you’re all going to do wonderfully.” Luke’s eyes are sweeping the crowd as he speaks, never really stopping on anyone. “Now we’re going to be filming on site for three months in-” Luke’s eyes land on Calum and Luke pauses. Literally. His eyes widen and his hands, which were about to clap together, just hover a few inches apart. He stands there, staring at Calum, as the rest of the room watch him and try to figure out what exactly is happening. Calum is just as confused.

Ashton seems to pick up that Luke is looking at Calum. “Luke? Is everything alright?”

“Hmm?” Luke closes his mouth and has a light expression on his face, he makes the little noise like a hum.

“Should I find someone new for Ian? Is Calum’s face not satisfactory?” Ashton asks, eye brows raised and a smirk plastered across his face. Calum’s heart sinks as he realizes that maybe Luke doesn’t like how he looks for the role, until Luke speaks of course.

“It’s beautiful.” Luke’s shoulders drop with a breathy sigh as he speaks. He seems to regret what he says and closes his eyes and tenses up, shoulders raising higher than before. “I mean, perfect!” He then clasps his hands, tightly. “I mean- His face is- He is perfect for the role.” He finally opens his eyes and everyone is gaping at their director. Except for Michael, who is roaring with laughter next to Calum.

“Calum,” Michael says between bursts of laughter as he grabs Calum’s shoulder. “This is the best thing that has ever happened to me!”

“As I was- I was just saying. Sorry everyone. I was just talking about-” Luke’s eyes keep leaving Calum and straying back. Ashton taps his friend’s elbow. Luke turns his head with such force, Calum wouldn’t be surprised if he got whiplash. “Yes?” His voice cracks.

“You were talking about filming on location Lukey.” Ashton smiles wide like someone just gave him the biggest present he could ever ask for.

Luke stares for a second before turning back to the group. “Yes. Filming on location. We’ll be in a small town in Northern California starting monday.” Luke is looking somewhere above Calum’s head, his eyes are fixed on a specific point. “The studio is renting out a few houses for you all to stay and trailers will be set up as well. We’ll have one big house that will be home base where myself, the producers, and the leads will be staying.” With that, his eyes dart down to Calum. Luke is rubbing his neck, “I just thought it would be good to keep us all together, so we could, I don’t know, discuss character development and stuff? But you’re welcome to stay where ever you like.” Luke pauses like he wants someone to respond to him. Instead Ashton jabs him in the side. Michael and a few other actors who have worked with Luke before start laughing again as Luke looses his balance. “Yes. Well, ummm, I think-let’s just start reading. Can everyone turn to the first page?” Luke sits down and buries his face in his hands.

Ashton looks at Luke like he’s waiting for him to do something. Ashton then looks up to see Mikey who is barely holding in his chuckles. When their eyes meet, Michael is sent laughing again and Ashton just snorts before he speaks. “Yes, well I’ll be reading the stage directions as it seems our Director has checked out for the minute.” Luke looks up and his eyes dart to Ashton. “It’s ok Luke, you just pay attention to your _cast_.” He says the last word with a lilt and Michael is gasping for air next to Calum. “Starting on page 1. Ian on Tuesdays. Written by Luke Hemmings. Camera pans down an american highway...”

The table read goes well. Calum and Michael bounce well off each other and it’s obvious that Cindy and Calum have a good chemistry. Luke stays quiet the entire time, eyes darting back and forth between the actors but taking on a different shape every time they land on Calum. Calum can’t figure out if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. One thing is for sure, this was not the director Calum had been expecting. Luke can hardly say two sentences without falling over his words. Michael keeps chuckling and Ashton looks at Luke with a knowing look every few minutes. They finish and everyone applauds the great writing.

Luke stands up. “Thank you all. It’s already shaping out to be a great project. Now, everyone is free to go except for Miranda, Jenny, Cindy, Michael and-” he takes a breath, “Calum.” It comes out a little high pitch. It’s the first time Luke has said Calum’s name. “Everyone who’s free to go, I’ll see you monday morning? Good. Good bye.” He sits back down and turns to Ashton. They talk quietly as everyone begins to leave except for the lead actors.

“That was amazing.” Michael turns to Calum, his eyes and smile to large too fit on his face. “This is absolutely incredible.”

“I know, the script is great. I hope Mr. Hemmings is ok with me.” Calum shrugs, still half convinced Ashton and Luke are discussing how to politely fire him.

Michael grins. “I’m pretty sure he’s more than ‘ok’ with you Calum.”

“How can you tell? I noticed him looking at me funny, I’m just not sure it’s a good thing. You think it was?”

Michael’s eyes widen. “Are you an amazing actor or are you being serious right now?”

“Serious! Michael! I don’t want to lose this role!” Calum holds his hands out, trying to make Michael understand how desperately he wants this part.

Instead, Michael falls out of his chair laughing. “Oh my god! You didn’t- Oh my god! This is going to be the best shoot ever!” Michael is rofling- rolling on the floor laughing- when Ashton stands up.

“Hey guys, we’re going to move to a smaller room to get some lunch and discuss your characters for the rest of the day. So, if you’ll follow me.” They follow him out of the room and down a small hallway. It’s then that Calum realizes Luke isn’t with them. Maybe he went to the bathroom? Which reminds Calum that he should probably go to the bathroom.

“Where’s the bathroom?” He asks Ashton as they file into a room with pizza boxes stacked on a table.

“It’s down the hallway, right at the end. You can’t miss it.” Calum easily finds the bathroom. When he walks in he sees that Luke is indeed there. He lost his jacket at some point and is now just wearing dress pants and a button up shirt rolled up at the sleeves and open at the neck. Luke is at the urinals, mid piss, when Calum walks in. And Calum had thought their first meeting had been awkward.

“Well this is awkward.” Calum offers. “We haven’t even met properly.”

When Luke hears Calum walk in, he turns around. But apparently he forgets that he is taking a piss until he hears the liquid hitting the tile floor.

“Shit!” Calum doesn’t miss the blush as Luke quickly turns around to finish his business. Rather than join him at the urinals, Calum stands by the door.

“S’okay. Definitely not the first time someone has peed on a floor, mate. Can’t say I’ve never done it before.” Calum smiles, trying to connect with his new boss. Of course, he hasn’t missed that badly since he was a kid, or he was drunk, but he’s not going to bring that up with his boss.

Luke zips up and turns around. He takes a step toward Calum and extends his hand. “Luke Hemmings, nice to meet you.” Calum doesn’t move. “Don’t mean to offend you, but you were just holding your penis.”

Luke freezes. “Uh. Sorry.” He rushes to the faucet to wash his hands as Calum walks over to the urinal. When Luke turns around again, hand extended, again, he immediately drops his hand and looks downward as Calum does his business. “I’m just-I’m going to-” He quickly exits the bathroom before Calum can say anything else. This is sure going to be an interesting shoot with Luke Hemmings around. The guys quite odd. Calum always heard that the most brilliant people were socially awkward, well Luke is the perfect proof of that.

After Calum finishes up in the bathroom, he heads back down the hallway to the room he’d left a few minutes before. He pauses outside of the doorway to look in the little window and make sure it’s the right room. The women are all sitting at one end of the table. On the other side, Michael is between Ashton and Luke. The only empty chair is between Luke and Cindy. Luke looks much calmer now. He has a plate piled with pizza in front of him and is casually laughing with Michael and Ashton. Luke’s posture is amazing and he looks completely different from the mouse that had stood in front of them just a few hours ago.

Calum walks in and takes the empty seat. Cindy smiles at him and passes him a plate so he can help himself. Luke, on Calum’s other side, stills. Calum watches as a shiver runs through his body as he stops mid story. Michael and Ashton, who had been nodding along with the story, break out in laughter. Calum still has absolutely no idea what they keep finding so funny. He just grabs his food and starts chowing down.

“What were you just talking about?” Calum turns and asks Luke so he can understand the ending of the story.

“I-uh-it wasn’t that good of a story.” Luke replies before taking a big bite of pizza, which just leads Ashton to fall back in his chair with laughter.

Calum decides to try talking to Cindy. “Hi.”

“Hello.” She smiles at him. She’s gorgeous, and Calum totally had a crush on her growing up. He can’t believe that he’s actually sitting next to her.

“So, we’re love interests in this, right?”

She giggles, “Yep.”

“So, we’re probably going to have one of those super romantic kisses where we make out on a bridge or something, right?”

“If you had been paying attention earlier, during the reading, you would know that it’s in the diner where we work.” Calum’s pretty sure she’s flirting, her eyes are crinkling at the corners and her voice is light. Calum is a professional and wouldn’t want to get involved with someone on set but a flirty banter with his character’s love interest isn’t going to hurt anyone. Might even help his acting.

“Silly me, must’ve forgotten. But I just want to let you know, I’m very big into practicing scenes beforehand.” He attempts to act nonchalant and takes a bite of his pizza.

She smiles back at him, “Oh really?”

“Yeah, so if you want to come over sometime this weekend, or maybe we could meet at a bar, I’d love to practice that scene with you.” Calum winks at Cindy, who is about to respond, when they are interrupted.

“No. You shouldn’t do that.” Luke is leaning forward over the table and watching them. “For the film. If you practice it won’t look really on camera. So no practicing that scene. Or any scene. No hanging out without me around at all actually. Don’t.” Luke is glaring at Cindy. Calum is looking in between the two as well as noticing that Michael and Ashton are biting their hands to hold in laughter. That’s when Calum realizes the Luke must not want him to be alone with Cindy.

“Oh, are you guys together? Sorry, didn’t mean to step on any toes.” Calum leans back and holds his hand up in defense.

Luke’s face goes blank, Cindy shoots Calum a questioning glance, and Michael and Ashton burst with laughter. They laugh so hard that Calum jumps in his chair.

“Did that just happen?” Ashton gasps while he laughs.

“Can you physically knock sense into people? Can I atleast try? Oh my god.” Michael continues laughing while hanging off of Ashton.

Luke stands up. “I’ll be back. Just-I have-hang on.” He storms out of the room while Michael and Ashton continue gasping for air.

The rest of the day goes well. Luke comes back half an hour later, after they’ve finished the last of the pizza and Michael and Ashton are capable of normal conversation. Luke gives out great notes about characters and they have a great discussion about their relationships. The only bumps come when ever Calum and Cindy talk amongst themselves. Luke interrupts them every time and brings them back to the main group with a glare shot at Cindy. Calum realizes he must’ve made a mistake. Luke must want to date Cindy but she doesn’t realize. Luke must be jealous that he and Cindy are paired together. Calum decides to put some space between himself and Cindy. He doesn’t want to have a conflict of interest with his boss. Overall, Calum is just excited to get to filming. He knows the script is amazing and Luke is talented, Calum can’t wait to get directed by the celebrated Luke Hemmings.

*****

Michael and Calum decide to drive up to the shoot together. They’re music tastes are similar, Calum doesn’t own a car, and the film is about them road tripping together anyways so they decide it’s in everyone’s best interest. It takes about 6 hours to get to the little town and another half an hour of getting lost and yelling at their phones to find the house they’re shooting at. It’s a beautiful old tudor-esque, 3 story monstrosity but Calum loves it. There’s a smaller home on the property that Calum figures they’ll use as Michael and Calum’s bungalow that their characters stay in. There are trailers and cars parked everywhere as well as the fifty some odd people here to film. There are really only five characters in the film and those are the ones staying in the big house. The other roles will either be filled by locals as extras or some actors volunteered to drive up for a couple nights when needed. The bulk of the people here are the various camera operators, sound technicians, stylists, and just assistants trying to learn from Luke.

Calum spots Ashton directing some interns on where to put a bunch of camera equipment. As they walk away, Ashton puts his hands on his hips and surveys the scene. He must like what he sees because he smiles and gives a nod at the bustling happening on every side.

“I’ll bet you a days worth of coffee that the first thing Ash says to us has to do with us being late.” Michael parks his car and jokes.

Calum looks at the clock perplexed. “We don’t have to be here for another 20 minutes.”

Michael bats away the invisible words with his hand, “Pfft, something arbitrary like that won’t stop Ashton.” He’s smiling and Calum is again overwhelmed with the feeling of being so lucky. He’s getting the chance to work with some of the best minds in the business and they’re all really spectacular people. Right now, Ashton has spotted them and is waving while jogging over to the car. Calum lowers the passenger side window as he approaches.

“What took you so long?” Ashton bends over and ducks his head in the window.

Michael raises his hands in victory. “Yes! Bring me coffee!”

“I never took that bet.” Calum raises a finger and wags it in Michael’s face. “Too bad.”

“I still won!” Michael points out and turns his attention to Ashton. “And you. You did not mention this being in the middle of no where. The GPS couldn’t even find it. We had to go down five dirt roads.” It had been two, but Calum wasn’t going to butt in.

Ashton just roles his eyes. “Oh, so we’re going to be a diva this time now? Need me to get some people to grab your bags Ms. Drama queen?” Calum laughs as Ashton backs off and opens the car door. “You’re rooms are the two down the right hallway on the second floor, right across from each other. When you’re done there, go to wardrobe and look through your clothes.” With that Ashton waves good bye and walks back into the loud mass of people all yelling back and forth.

Michael and Calum grab their bags and head towards the house. Calum hopes they’ll do some of the filming in here too because the place is beautiful. The front porch leads to a double doorway, on the other side of which is an expansive living space, all open, and a stairwell. They head up the olden wooden stairs and take a right at the top. There are a total of eight bedrooms on this floor and two bathrooms, one for the guys and one for the girls. There’s a third floor too, Calum looks up to see an open attic with bunks set up along the walls.

As they head down the hallway, the door next to one of the designated rooms opens up. Luke struts out, his body long and confident, a bluetooth in his ear and cellphone in hand. He talks to someone while multitasking on his phone. “Yes, I know. Just tell them I can get them a rough cut in 6 months, no earlier....Stop. Yes....I like having the wiggle room-” Luke looks up from his phone and notices Michael and Calum standing there. “Ugh-I, I have to go. Yes. Bye.” He pulls the bluetooth forcefully from his ear and smiles wide. “Hi! Hello, Welcome.” Luke’s smiling wide and his posture has gone from multimillionaire director to nervous intern on their first day in 2 seconds. “You’re rooms are down here. Calum, you’re right next to me.” He walks down the hall and holds his hands out as if to present the room. “If that’s ok. I mean, you and Michael can switch or you can stay anywhere. It’s really-”

Michael cuts him off. “The rooms are fine. Don’t you have some people to direct or something, boss?” He smirks on the last few words and Luke clasps his hands together in front of him.

“Oh. Yes. I’ll just go-Yes. See you later.” When Luke passes by Calum, he flattens his body to give him as wide of a berth as possible and then runs down the stairs. Michael and Calum watch as Luke goes and almost stumbles down the last few stairs. Calum has to say something.

“I’ve got to be honest, he’s not what I was expecting.”

Michael raises his eyebrows and begins walking towards their rooms to throw his bag in his own. “Yeah? Same here.”

Calum, not understanding what Michael means, continues. “I mean, you said he was really in control. And I guess he must be, but he acts so...awkward. I guess brilliant people always are but, I mean, he peed on the bathroom floor the other day.”

Michael’s eyes shoot open. “He did what?”

Calum realizes what he had said too late. “Shit. Probably shouldn’t have told you that. He’ll get mad if he finds out I told you.”

Michael laughs. “Mate, I don’t think he can get mad at you. Oh god, Ashton and I are going to have a field day with this. Come on, let’s get to wardrobe.” Calum only has a split second to glance around the room, a decently sized bedroom with a double bed and a beautiful view out into the landscape, before he and Michael are heading back down the stairs.

They head out the back door and find the wardrobe trailer easily. “Harry?” Michael calls out as he enters the large trailer, stuffed with clothing racks and tables with different bobbles. They must do hair and make up in here too because Calum sees a few mirrors set up to the side.

A couple comes out from behind a clothes rack. They are the two most hipster people Calum has ever encountered. The man wears a scarf in his curly hair, 2 plaid button down shirts, and jean shorts cuffed mid thigh. The women has practically white hair and is wearing all black clothing that fits tightly to her body. When they recognize Michael, the man smiles wide and opens his arms while the woman crosses her arms and smirks.

“Mikey! It’s been so long. How’ve you been?” Michael goes to hug the man and then the woman.

“I’ve been good. My hair’s been getting a little boring lately.”

“We’ll have to fix that then, love.” the woman replies with a smirk. Calum just sits there, waiting for someone to notice him. Michael finally remembers.

“This is Calum. The leading lad.” Michael says the last bit as if he’s trying to say something else. The woman’s jaw drops in surprise and then laughs. The man’s face takes on a childlike, gleeful expression. He holds his hand out.

“Pleasure to meet you. Heard so much about you. Harry Styles. This is Lou Teasdale. We’re your wardrobe and make up specialists. Respectively.

Calum shakes Harry’s hand. “Have we not met before? It’s just, you look really familiar."

"I don't think so. I did get an award for my work on a movie last year though. You might’ve seen me in an article or something.”

“So bloody proud of that award, when has anyone ever recognized you because of it?” Lou speaks, the words are unkindly but her expression is so fond Calum knows she’s just joking.

“Well, how else would he recognize me Louise?”

“He must’ve seen you with Lou.” Michael butts in. Harry’s eyes light up a bit.

“No,” Calum interrupts, “I’ve definitely never met Lou before. I’d remember someone as pretty as you.” Calum smiles at Lou as she, Michael and Harry burst out laughing.

“Oh gosh, Ashton was right, this is going to be amazing.” Lou fixes her hair as she speaks. “Not me, dear. I’m happily married and not to this one. Mikey meant Harry’s boyfriend-”

Harry cuts her off. “Fiancé! He’s making a honest man out of me. But yes, I’m engaged to Louis Tomlinson.” Harry absolutely shines as Calum’s mouth drops open. Of course, he’s an idiot. Louis Tomlinson, who in his twenties had been a famed singer/song writer, had turned music producer and taken the music world by storm. He was now in his mid thirties and produced two music based TV shows as well as having one of the largest record labels in the world. There had been a big scandal when he and his long term boyfriend had come out a few years back. Calum had just shaken the hand of the boy who had captured the heart of the man deemed most eligible english bachelor three years in a row. It seemed like Harry was just as smitten as the tabloids said Louis was.

Michael elbowed Calum to get him out of his daze. “I promise it wears off. You realize celebrities are just normal people after awhile. It gets freaky when you’re idols gush over you though. One of the surrealist things was when Harry brought Louis to Luke’s last movie opening and Lou came up to me after and hugged me saying he really loved my performance. I almost fainted.”

“Remember that feeling next time you poke fun at him.” Harry holds his arms crossed in a defensive manner.

“It was just a joke Harry!”

“Leave my man alone!” Harry pouts then seems to remember where he is. “We should actually get some work done. It’s time to try on new clothes!” He throws his arms up and grabs Calum and Michael before hauling them back into the trailer to try on set outfits.

They spend the next hour trying on different pieces and seeing what works and what doesn’t for their characters. Harry and Lou are kind of brilliant together, figuring out what looks best yet also like two broke college kids had enough money and sense to buy it. They start putting outfits together and making notes on when they’d be good in the movie.

Calum is trying on a nicer outfit in the back. There’s one scene where he takes out Cindy’s character on a date and he’s supposed to look nice so he’s dressed up in a nice suit. As he’s adjusting the shirt and his belt, he hears a new voice on the other side of the clothing. “How’s it going in here?” It’s Luke. He sounds relaxed and happy.

“We’re doing fabulously. Here’s my notes, if you want to look them over.” Harry must hand over the note pad to Luke because they start quietly discussing Luke’s opinion on certain outfits. He’s really brilliant, Calum is eavesdropping listening to how Luke wants the colors of the clothing to interact with the scenery and a few key set pieces. After a few minutes, Calum realizes he’s just standing there listening to Luke’s voice filling the trailer. When Calum turns the corner of a clothing rack he’s sees Harry, Lou, and Michael listening intently as Luke points out the window towards the forest as he tells them his ideas about the scene they’ll film out there.

Calum speaks softly, “Don’t mean to interrupt, but is this ok?”

The four of them turn around. Lou and Harry smile. Luke’s jaw drops. Michael walks over to Calum with arms extended and begins to fix the jacket like a 50s era housewife would fix her husbands. “Well don’t you look all powerful and sexy.”

Calum jokes back. “Aw thanks babes, you look great too.”

Lou joins in, “Well, aren’t you two the cutest couple.” She looks over at Luke then Harry who chimes in next.

“We might just have a little behind the scenes romance this shoot.” Harry waggles his eye brows at Luke who’s face has gone bright red. Calum’s worried that Luke might actually be worried about that, in case he and Michael became inappropriately close. It’d be unprofessional and just straight up awkward at that point. Calum wants to make sure Luke knows that he won’t be distracted on set and it definitely won’t be by Michael.

“I just want to remind everyone that I am straight and I do like girls.” He says it with a smile and a wink. It does not get the reaction he expects.

Michael, who has moved back to stand next to Lou, eyes widen. Harry freezes, Lou goes still then glares at Calum. Luke, by some scientific feat Calum will never understand, goes considerably redder and squeaks. “Oh,” Luke’s voice cracks and he clears his throat. “Oh, well, I see you guys still have some work to do. I’ll just- I’ll see you guys later.” He gives a little wave before he exits the trailer with his shoulders slumped.

“You shouldn’t have said that.” Lou looks at him with ice in her eyes.

Harry pats her shoulder. “Don’t hold it against him. He obviously didn’t understand what he was saying. Now,” he points at Michael and Calum, “you two both have at least four more possible outfits each. Go! Strip!” Calum turns around as he hears Lou, Harry, and Michael whispering fiercely between themselves. He doesn’t have any idea what Harry had been referring to but he assumes he’ll learn eventually and then he’ll be invited to gossip too.

Later that night, after trying on more clothing than he’d like to think about and having Lou play with his hair for a few hours, he and Michael finally make their way back inside. “Do you like it? Or is it too boring?” Michael is referring to his hair which Lou has dyed, against his will, an auburn color that would look to vibrant on the average person. On Michael, it looks dull.

“It’ll be good for the film, but it’s not really you.” Calum concedes, not liking to lie to his friends.

“Oh well, only a few months right?” They walk up the steps on the back porch and walk through the kitchen. On their right is the master bedroom that has been transformed into Luke and Ashton’s office while they’re on site. They’re both standing around a desk, pointing down and discussing the best places to set up the cameras for the type of shots they want. Luke is in control, even though Ashton is his senior. Luke towers over Ashton who nods along and agrees with everything Luke is saying.

Calum pauses while Michael continues into the dining room. Calum is kind of mesmerized, trying to reconcile this image of this Luke with the one he keeps meeting. This is the Luke Michael described to him. Calum respects this man and would be far too afraid to ever have a conversation with him. The other Luke, meek and stuttery, is quirky and easy enough to talk too. As Calum stands there, Luke must feel the eyes on him. Luke looks up and pauses when he sees Calum. Luke smiles sadly and waves for a second before returning back to his work. Calum smiles back. This is going to work out well. He just knows it.

*****

Calum is on cloud nine. Constantly. He loves being apart of this group of people filming this amazing movie. His cast mates are responding well to him in scenes, Ashton raves about his performance every time they have a second to talk, and Luke hasn’t fired him. Luke had adopted the role of serious hollywood director as filming continues. Calum hasn’t heard him stutter in days and he hasn’t tripped on set since the second day of filming two weeks ago. He gives everyone great directions and is insightful with his suggestions. When the camera stops rolling, he still acts a little awkward and laughs too loudly at Calum’s jokes that no one else really finds funny. Sometimes Calum will catch Luke staring off into space in his direction and will make a funny face just to send Luke into a fountain of giggles.

Calum likes to think everyone on set are pretty good friends but he knows the Aussies have stuck together. During breaks and in any free time, Calum sticks by Michael who considers Luke and Ashton some of his best friends. Sometimes Harry will join them and that always turns into a memorable experience. For all of them being exceedingly famous and rich, they’re chill and down to earth. Conversation is easy. Last night, Harry got a huge box of water guns from his fiancé and they had spent the dusk hours going around and spraying anyone born in the United States.

“Calum, we need you on set!” Ashton calls out from his fancy canvas chair next to Luke’s. Today they’re filming in the diner. One half of the diner had been left normal and the rest is piled high with filming equipment and camera operators. Calum could see Luke walking around the set with Cindy. They had three scenes to film over the course of two days in here and they were starting with the scene where Ian kisses Sara, Cindy’s character. Luke was figuring out how to best use the light in the space. It was something critics always commented about, Luke Hemmings’ use of light to illuminate his characters. Now he places Cindy in front of a window.

“Here. This is where you need to end up. When he starts walking towards you, back up for a few steps and then stop here. It’s like your character doesn’t want this exceedingly attractive boy from out of the country so you’re backing away. You know he’s going to break your heart, looking at him pains you. But you’re realizing that putting up this fight is just as painful to you. You standing your ground here is your ‘fuck it.’”

“Just apologizing for the pain I’m about to inflict.” Calum walks up behind them. Luke looks over at him and smiles that same sad smile that Calum sees a few times a day.

Cindy just laughs, “You’re forgiven love. Now come on, let’s film this shit.”

Luke shoots her a look. “I resent that. But yes, let’s film the shit.” Calum laughs at that which causes the corner’s of Luke’s mouth to twitch up.

Luke walks back to his chair as they begin filming. They do the beginning part of the scene a few times to get it just right and from a few different camera angles. As they get later into the scene, Luke makes them do more and more takes of the different segments. “Ok, that was a great take. Let’s do it with...uh, try folding the napkins on this table first, Calum?” Luke is walking onto the set and pointing at a completely different section of the diner.

Ashton speaks up, “But then we won’t have continuity with the last bit.”

Luke turns around and looks at him. “Well then maybe we should go back to the very beginning, try it in that spot.”

“But the sun is changing, the light won’t be right for the bit with window if we don’t film that part now.” It’s the next section chronologically, also the end. Well, Calum assumes they’ll have to film from a bunch of different angles to get the right affect.

Luke paces for a second then heads back to his chair. “Fine, yes, from your line Calum. And Action.”

When the film slate goes, Calum starts as his character. “Just let me. Please.” He moves across the scene towards Cindy who has a frightened look on her face. She stops in her preset spot and waits for Calum to get to her. She’s looking up at him with wonder in her eyes. Cindy’s a fantastic actor. Calum can clearly differentiate between Cindy and Sara which makes this so much easier. He, Ian, is about to kiss the girl who he can’t get out of his head, Sara. He makes his way towards her, heart pounding as he stops inches from her. She looks up at him and parts her lips. He leans down and just barely brushes their mouths together before pushing down with just a hint of pressure-

“Cut!” Luke yells. “That’s perfect! We’re done, let’s break for lunch!” Luke had somehow made his way across the set and now stands close to Calum and Cindy. He yells to the rest of the staff but his words are directed at Calum.

Ashton stands up. “Done? That was one take.” Luke turns to him, hands on his hip. “And it was perfect, absolutely no need to do it again.”

Ashton crosses his arm, “We only have one angle! Plus, they barely kissed. It’s supposed to be a passionate kiss, you wrote it. Right here!” Ashton points to his script while Luke looks for words.

“I changed my mind. It should be implied passion. God knows it was written all over their faces.” Luke says the last words a little bitter. Calum figures it is because of Cindy. She is gorgeous, and no one had ever truly denied that something was going on between her and Luke. Calum isn’t going to ask anyone just in case, but he is working on the assumption that Cindy and Luke had some sort of past.

Ashton stares at Luke with a blank expression. “Luke, I love you. But you need to get your shit together.” Ashton storms off as the other people on set start securing the cameras and breaking for lunch.

This has been happening more frequently lately. When they weren’t working, Michael and Ashton loved Luke, they all laughed together and made each other the butt of their jokes. But on set, Michael and Ashton were always giving Luke weird looks and sometimes being outright hostile. Calum has absolutely no idea why, the script and the direction he is getting are great. Luke, knowing that Calum is kind of new to this, makes sure to spend a lot of time with him. Calum feels so prepared every time they shoot a new scene because Luke painstakingly walks him through the whole thing before hand and shares with him the vision. Luke’s eyes always light up when he talks about his work and Calum is always ready to listen. But then Michael or Ashton will come over and interrupt saying they need to get going. Calum doesn’t know what’s up with them.

*****

Calum wakes up on the Saturday after their fourth week of filming and wants eggs. On the weekends they don’t have meals provided for them since 75% of the people go home Friday night and don’t get back until Sunday afternoon. This weekend there are even less people because all the girls went up to San Francisco the night before. Even though the cast is mostly women, the crew is mostly men so they all decided they wanted a spa weekend without the guys.

Calum gets out of bed, a bit drowsy, and decides to forgo clothing this morning. He slept naked last night, something he never does, because of the heat and really doesn’t want to put clean clothes on his sweaty body. It’s not like there will be that many people to freak out. He stumbles down the stairs and heads toward the kitchen in the back.

“Hey.” Calum says quietly to Ashton who is sitting at the counter on his computer, looking up ratings or whatever else producers do in their spare time.

“Hey Calum.” He calls without looking up.

“You want eggs? I’m making ‘em.”

“Yeah sure. Thanks.” Calum hums quietly as he cracks the eggs. He hums a tune while Ashton blogs. It’s not until a few minutes later that Ashton speaks.

“Uh, Calum.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re naked.”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t feel like clothes, is that ok?”

“Uh...yeah. Actually it’s great.” Calum looks over his shoulder to see Ashton wearing a mischievous grin. “Please, don’t put clothing on Calum.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Calum shrugs and turns back to continue cooking.

It’s about 20 minutes later and he’s cleaning the dishes at the sink when he hears someone coming down the stairs. He doesn’t turn to see them, just hears the footsteps come in the room. “Hey A-ummmmmm.” There’s a gulping sound after the drawn out syllable. Calum turns back to see Luke staring down at about the region his ass is. Calum wonders if there’s something on his butt or around it. Luke’s eyes are half lidded and his jaw drops as his eyes trail up Calum’s back.

“Is there something wrong with my skin?” Calum turns around completely and Luke gasps and covers his eyes with his palm. It’s then that Calum notices that Ashton is no where to be seen but the sound of his laughter is filling the room. He laughs even harder when he hears what Calum says.

“Yeah Luke, is there something wrong with Calum’s skin?” Ashton asks from ...the ground? He’s at the foot of his barstool lying back on the floor clutching his stomach.

“I’m awake, right?” Luke has adjusted so that he’s staring up at the ceiling.

Calum jokes. “Do you dream of your friends naked often?”

Luke just crosses his arms and shakes his head while Ashton calls out, “No, he doesn’t dream of his friends naked.”

“No! I- no. I don’t dream about- Calum, can you please put some clothes on?”

“Oh, yeah, I can do that.” He walks out past Luke whose eyes are still glued to the ceiling. There’s not enough space to get by Luke between him and the wall so Calum brushes up against his arm. Luke makes a high noise in his throat which sends Ashton into another peel of laughter.As he rounds the counter, he hears Luke screaming and Ashton still laughing in the kitchen.

“I hate you so much!”

“Michael is going to cry when he finds out he missed that! Oh my god! Luke, you have a problem!” Oh! Luke must not like nudity! Ashton really should have warned Calum. Calum will have to apologize later, he really didn’t mean to distress Luke.

*****

They’re exactly halfway through filming when Michael takes Ashton and Calum out for drinks. It’s friday night and they want to celebrate a successful shoot so far and the friendship that’s developing. Harry comes too, but takes his own car so he can leave early. Harry and Michael both stay sober since they’ll have to drive. Calum feels kind of bad drinking when his friends aren’t so he just knocks back a few beers to get a buzz going. Ashton, though, goes all out and is down the bar talking to a few girls within fifteen minutes of arriving.

“Going to try for anyone tonight Cal? You can use your celebrity now.” Michael bumps his shoulder against Calum’s in the booth they found in the back. Harry is across from them, stretched out over the seat.

“No, I’ve got to stay faithful to Sara.” He makes the joke and they all laugh, but a part of it rings true for Calum. He’s not sure why, but the thought of going home with a woman at the bar makes him feel like he’s cheating. He doesn’t know on what or who, just that he belongs somewhere else. It’s probably the shoot getting to him, he’s going through some kind of transformation into his character or something.

“Lads, I think I’m going to head out.” Harry announces an hour later.

“So soon? People are just starting to dance.” Michael points to the few couples, one of them featuring Ashton, huddled close together as music plays.

“Exactly. You know I’ll want to get up there and then I’ll get sad. Can’t dance without my partner.” Harry smiles sadly. Luke had told Calum a few days ago that Harry always get in a slump when he can’t see Louis, who is currently over seas doing business in London, for an extended period of time.

“I think I’ll head out too. Don’t want to be stuck here if you and Ashton get lucky.” Michael tries to prevent him from leaving the seat but Calum eventually gets up and walks out of the bar with Harry.

Harry owns a hulking black range rover. “Lou got it for me a few years ago.”

“Sweet.” Calum takes in the fancy radio system and decorations. There’s a little necklace with two birds hanging from the rear view mirror. Calum picks some music and they drive, singing along with old Louis Tomlinson songs that make Harry blush and smile as he sings. “So, how did you two meet?” Calum asks about half way back.

“On a set for a photo shoot. I was just starting out, the assistant to the stylist for his album cover 5 years back. I was just out of uni and moved to London to try and get involved with the fashion industry. We just connected. My boss ended up firing me for distracting the talent.” Harry smiles fondly at the memory. “Louis introduced me to Lou and she and I got on great so I started working for her. I was awful with a make up brush though, my hands are too big. So Louis got a director to take a chance on me and I’ve been doing this ever since. I love it. It stinks when Louis and I have to be apart though. We almost broke up when he decided to move his home base to LA but I just packed up my things and decided to go with him. I haven’t regretted a second of my life since I’ve met him.”

“You moved continents for him?” Calum can’t imagine the level of trust Harry would have to have in Louis.

“Of course, I love him, have since day one. I wasn’t going to say no.” Harry is acting like it’s no big deal. It’s a pretty big deal.

“How bad were people to you back when you came out?”

Harry’s face scrunches up. “Not too bad. We knew it was going to happen and we prepared for the worst. It wasn’t nearly that bad. We’d been together about two years by then, so it was better than me seeing speculations of what woman he was dating on every tabloid. And a lot of celebrities already knew about us and were supportive. We handled it and it’s not really news now so...” Harry shrugs his shoulder and turns into the parking area of the house.

Calum nods his head. “It was really brave of you. I can’t imagine going through that.”

Harry just sticks him with a stare. “You and Luke have been hanging out a lot lately, yeah?”

Calum smiles. “Yeah! He’s a great guy. Really brilliant and funny too, not what I expected at all.”

Harry pauses and speaks slower than usual, mapping out his words. “Would you categorize your relationship as purely business? Or is there something else there?”

Calum doesn’t really know what to say to that. He’s only known Luke, and the rest of the cast, for a little over a month. And he should be keeping these relationships professional, but none of them really feel that way. Luke especially. Calum had begged Luke to come out tonight but he had refused, saying he had work to do. Calum knows he should err on the side of professional with these men but he certainly doesn’t want too.

Calum shrugs. “I mean, it’s definitely founded in business. But I’ve never had a directer I’ve like as much as him. We get on well I think. I’d like to stay in touch after the film.”

Harry nods. “I’m sure he’d like that too.”

Calum and Harry exit the car. Harry waves good bye as he makes his way out to his trailer next to the wardrobe one. Calum walks up the front steps to the house. It’s a quiet night, he’s a little tipsy, and the house feels kind of lonely when he steps through the doors. There’s a slight glow coming from off the kitchen and Calum realizes Luke must still be working. Calum decides to visit. He tiptoes back on the balls of his feet after taking off his shoes. When he gets outside of the doorway to the office, he sees Luke hunched over in a big armchair in front of a computer screen going through the segment they taped today. He’s making notes on a pad and his eyes are scrunched as he leans forward, just sitting on the very edge of the chair.

Calum figures there’s enough space behind Luke for him to sit. He walks over and climbs up to settle behind Luke. Calum forgets that he’s been tiptoeing and staying quite so when he puts his hand on Luke’s shoulder, he’s shocked by the scream from Luke’s throat. “What the hell Calum?!”

Luke has turned around and is looking up at Calum where he is still standing on the back of the armchair, waiting to settle in behind Luke. Calum is just a little bit intoxicated, and he just happens to be one of those people where the more alcohol they have in their blood, the more skin he wants touching another person. So he’s at the perfect tipsyness for being snuggled up to Luke in the big arm chair. “Just trying to cuddle.” Calum sits with his legs on either side of Luke’s hips.

Luke stares back at him questioningly. “Are you drunk?”

“Nope, but I did drink enough to need cuddles.” Calum leans forward and wraps his arms around Luke’s waist and nuzzles into the back of his neck.

At first, Luke stays still and Calum wonders if he should back up. But then Luke sighs and leans back into him.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking at footage from today.” They had filmed out in the forest. It was a scene of Michael and Calum sitting and talking about when their character’s wanted to go home. It turns into a conversation of if they want to leave the country. It’s beautiful, the sun is filtering through the trees and making varied patterns on Michael’s skin as Calum sits in shadow.

“You’re brilliant, you know that?” Calum hooks his chin over Luke’s shoulder and notices a slight blush appear on Luke’s face.

“Thanks.”

“Seriously, your films are gorgeous and the scripts are absolutely incredible. I have no idea how you do it.”

“It’s no big deal, I just kind of write what's happened to me.”

Calum’s confused. “You drove across the US with your best friend and ended up working in a diner?”

Luke laughs, “No. Close to it. One summer during film school I worked as a barista. I lived with my best friend, it was amazing. A part of me wanted to just stay there forever, it was easy. But I really wanted to do film so...”

“What about the other scripts?”

“Well, Michael’s movie is obvious.” It actually wasn’t to Calum but he let Luke continue. “And the wedding thing happened to a good friend of mine. Just out of nowhere his parents said they were going to get a divorce the day after his older sister got married. After a few years, we started laughing about it and saying it’d be a good idea for a movie. I wrote it for my senior project in school. I had no idea it was going to get the attention it did.”

“You wrote your first oscar nominated movie as your senior project?” Calum is absolutely shocked by Luke. Luke just bites his lip and nods his head. They both start laughing out of nowhere because everything feels a bit ridiculous when you’re that close to someone.

Calum watches Luke work for a while longer. He then remembers what Luke had said about his second film. “Hey Luke?”

“Hmmm?” Luke had his focus on the film.

“Why is Michael’s movie obvious? It’s not to me.”

Luke’s brow furrows and he turns his body away from Calum. “Oh. You don’t...do you not know?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I just thought it was pretty obvious...”

“Luke, what are you talking about?”

Luke turns back a bit to face Calum. “Well...I’m...you know, gay?”

Calum’s mouth opens in shock. “Really?”

Luke’s face is puzzled. “You seriously haven’t noticed?”

“Well it’s not like there was anything to notice. You haven’t talked about a boyfriend or flirted with anyone on set. What should I have noticed?” Luke can’t control his laughter, he has to put a hand over his mouth to stifle the noise. Calum leans back in the chair to put some space between them, upset with Luke for laughing at him, but keeps his hands on Luke’s waist. Luke leans back and pulls Calum’s hands back around his middle and holds them there.

“I’m sorry for laughing. It’s just really funny that you didn’t know.” Luke turns his head so his forehead rests against Calum’s jaw.

“You guys laugh at me a lot. I just don’t get it. It’s like I’m left out of some private joke just because I’m new.” Calum’s pouting and he knows it. But he feels like if there’s anytime to bring it up, it’d be here with Luke all snuggly.

Luke sighs and his voice is somber when he speaks. “It’s not because you’re new. Trust me, they’re not laughing at you. Everyone really likes you Calum.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, people tell me all the time. They think you’re amazing. I think you’re amazing. And so talented.” The room is still around them and it feels intimate. Calum thinks that maybe he should move or say he has to go to bed, but he likes having Luke close.

“Thanks Lukey. You’re great too.” They sit there, talking and watching back the film for another hour before they head upstairs, Calum tucked under Luke’s arm.

******

It’s eight weeks into filming, two thirds of the way through the whole process. Today they’re filming the most sexual scene. Ian and Sara are at a bar and they have sex in a bathroom stall. Luke had shocked them all the night before when he told them he wants to keep it more implicit than explicit. He wants to just have a shot of Cindy pulling Calum into the bathroom but nothing more, apparently it’ll have a greater impact on the audience.

Of course, they still have the dancing scene to film. Sara and Ian get hot and heavy on the dance floor. The whole idea is for Sara to take back her sexuality as woman, rather than her being a sexual object she’s supposed to be a sexual subject. Luke is trying to comment on gender in our society and how we so rarely see woman not objectifying themselves for men in big budget films. Luke makes sure Cindy’s clothing is modest by seedy bar standards and breaks down how crucial it is to get this scene right.

“This needs to be about Sara realizing she has just as much right to sex as any man does. It’s not about making him want you. It’s about you wanting him to prove he’s good enough. You are the dominant one here. Ok?” Luke is holding Cindy’s shoulders. They’re in a bar a few towns over from the main set. It’s dark in the bar even though it’s mid day outside. They’re going to film in a corner, it’s in shadows and Luke wants to do something with the sharp angles. He had told Calum the night before at dinner about how excited he was to work in the space. It’s much like the diner set up where the bar is filled with camera equipment except for the one corner they’ll be filming in.

“Come on, let’s start. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty!” Ashton calls out and winks at Calum who just slaps his ass in return. Luke watches the interaction before calling action. The first part of the scene goes well with the lines. As the cue song starts playing, Sara steps forward and tries to make Ian dance with her. Calum doesn’t really feel like Ian when she touches him though. She’s getting in to it and he’s just kind of standing there while she bends over and starts grinding against his hips. Calum has no idea where to put his hands and just feels awkward.

“Cut!” Luke gets out of the chair and walks over with Ashton and Michael right behind. “You were just objectifying yourself Cindy. That’s the exact opposite of what we need!” Luke actually looks mad at Cindy and Calum feels kind of bad for her. He hadn’t done well either.

“I just don’t get what you want.” Cindy has her arms crossed in front of her.

“This needs to about you. Not like you’re the center of attention but like you’re the one who is getting pleased. We’re flipping the tables around, this is about you but Ian is clueless how to do this because our society has messed up views on sex.” Luke runs his hand through his hair as he tries to explain. Calum sometimes forgets how smart he is.

“I don’t know what that’s supposed to look like.”

“Maybe you need an example. Luke, you should show her.” Michael is smirking at Luke and Ashton immediately jumps in.

“Yeah, show Cindy what you mean on Calum. Properly objectify him and confuse him.” Luke shakes his head before Ashton even finishes talking.

“Absolutely not.”

“I think it’s a great idea.” Harry comes out from his hiding spot in the back. “You can show her exactly what you want her to do. Brilliant.”

“Fine.” Luke walks over to Calum. “I-just stand there, ok?” He turns to Cindy. “Ok, so definitely face him for a few beats, but then maybe turn around? I have this idea in my head of you lacing your fingers together and dragging his fingers down my-uh your body.” Luke shakes his head to refocus as Michael snorts. Luke then backs up so there’s about a foot of space between him and Calum. Luke grabs Calum’s hands by the fronts to demonstrate. “There, just like this.” He lets go of Calum’s and quickly puts a few feet of space between them.

Harry speaks before anyone else can. “That wasn’t a very good demonstration.”

Ashton agrees, “Yeah, how is that going to help her? There was barely any helpful information in that.”

Cindy backs up to join the line of them. “I still have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. I need something a little bit more clear than that.” They’re all smirking and watching Luke and Calum. Calum feels like he’s the butt of a joke that was never spoken.

Michael looks up next. “You know what?” He’s smiling wide like he’s just had the best idea. “We should turn on the music and let Luke do the scene one time through as Sara. That’d be helpful, right Cindy?”

Cindy nods quickly. “Oh definitely! I’ll just do exactly what Luke does after. That’d be the best I think for our next course of action.” The line of the four of them are all nodding their heads and saying “oh yes” and “most definitely.”

“No.” Luke says. “I’m not going to do that.”

“Why not?” Michael asks, hand on his cheek, an innocent look there.

“Because! I can’t grind on Calum!” His cheeks are red.

Calum really doesn’t care, he’s actually kind of intrigued to see if Luke has any acting skills. “Doesn’t matter to me. I’m an actor, not much of difference really it’s you or her.” The five of them all turn and their jaws drop. Like, comically, all five of them at once.

Michael recovers first. “Well there, it’s settle. Someone ready the song!” They all retreat behind the camera line except for Luke. “You really don’t have to do this.” He’s got his arms crossed and his lip darts out to lick around his lip ring.

“It’s cool, what’s a good grind sesh between friends anyways?” Calum smiles and tries to put Luke at ease. It didn’t make much sense to put up such a fuss about it unless Luke thinks this will make things weird between them. Calum had made out weekly on screen with one of his best friends back in Australia, this would be fine in comparison.

“Ok. Play the song.” Luke calls out. He turns his back on Calum and walks a few yards away. When the opening lines of the melody start, Luke turns around. His eyes are dark and focused on Calum. Calum feels his heart fall into his stomach. Ok, maybe this won’t be easy.

Luke moves toward Calum and reaches out and grabs his neck and plasters himself to Calum’s front, resting his forehead against Calum’s. Calum, on instinct, wraps his arms around Luke’s back. They don’t move, Luke still seems a little nervous. Calum decides to lighten things up a bit by smacking Luke’s ass lightly.

“Hey.” Calum feels more than hears Luke breathe the word against his skin. Luke is moving his lips lightly along Calum’s jaw. Calum feels slightly shaky and holds on even tighter to Luke’s back. Luke is an amazing actor. Calum has to keep reminding himself that this is all for the scene as Luke’s hands trail down the front of his body. Calum needs to get his head in the game and act back. Luke turns his body in Calum’s arms. The slow pounding of the bass of the song reverberates through the room. Luke grabs Calum’s hands like he had before, so that Calum’s palms are facing down as Luke controls them. Luke moves Calum’s hands to press against his surprisingly taut stomach. Calum hasn’t seen Luke without a shirt on and has never felt his waist before, but can now feel a defined warm core through the thin material of Luke’s t-shirt.

Luke, even though he is slightly taller, lines up so that his shoulders are right on level with Calum’s. He pushes back into Calum and turns his head so the tip of his nose is running lines down Calum’s cheek. Calum keeps retreating away from his character, wanting to enjoy the warmth of Luke’s body against his as Calum, not as Ian. Luke is breathing against his cheek and is moving Calum’s hands slowly up and down his sides. Calum figures at this point his character might try to take control event though Calum is kind of content to let Luke do Luke. He tries to pull his hands away to run down Luke’s body further but Luke just grips tighter. “No.” It’s just a puff of breath against Calum’s cheek. Calum has to bite back a noise as Luke slowly slides one hand lower, to write above his waistline. Luke applies pressure to keep the hand there, unmoving and Calum just wants him to move it a little bit further down, to figure out what the top of Luke’s underwear feel like. Luke is full out grinding back against him now. Before, it had been shallow and pressure less twitches of his hips, for demonstration purposes. But now Luke is flat against Calum’s front and pressing back against his crotch with intent. Ok. This is...nice? Calum can feel himself sucking in deep breaths as Luke grinds back against him.

Someone turns off the music and mumbles “Well that’s quite enough.” But Calum is too overwhelmed at this point and Luke doesn’t pull away soon enough and it’s been too long since he’s been this turned on. So he lets out a low groan.

It ends up being really loud. It wouldn’t have been as embarrassing if had just been him and Luke in the room but instead it’s everyone. You could hear a pin drop in the silence that follows. Luke and Calum stay motionless with barely any space between them while the entire cast and crew look over with mouths gaping open. The room stays still for a few moments before Calum jumps away from Luke.

“Oh shit. I am so sorry. Honestly, I didn’t mean to get that into it. I am so sorry Luke. That was really inappropriate of me.” He’s holding his hands out and practically begging Luke to forgive him.

Luke looks at him just like everyone else in the room, but Luke snorts. He holds his hand up in front of his face and starts to laugh. “You think that was inappropriate? Calum, you’re ridiculous.”

That seems to set off the entire crew. Everyone, including Luke, is leaning over in some way, not able to control their laughter. Michael is on the ground, Ashton is laughing so hard he’s not breathing. Cindy is red in the face and Harry’s guffawing.

“This isn’t funny!” Calum crosses his arms. People are making fun of him and nothing about the situation is the least bit funny. “I was completely unprofessional! Luke, you’d be totally in line to fire me!” That just sends off another round of laughter. Calum feels so stupid with them sometimes. It’s like they all have the same sense of humor that he just doesn’t get. He constantly feels like something is happening behind him but he can’t see what gets them so hysterical.

Luke takes the few steps in between them and puts his arm on Calum’s shoulder. “Calum, I’m not going to fire you.” He moves his hand up to Calum’s face and brushes his thumb across Calum’s cheek. “I honestly don’t think I could.” Luke smiles that sad little smile at Calum as the rest of the crew sobers up around them.

******

“I am leaving in 1 minute. You get in this car or I leave you behind!” Harry yells from the open window of his range rover. Calum and Luke are walking from the front porch out to the car where Ashton is already sitting shotty.

“Michael is in the bathroom, let the man do his business!” Luke yells back to Harry.

Harry’s face falls, “I just want to go.”

Calum and Luke have reached the car and Luke sticks his hand in the open window to ruffle Harry’s curls. “You’ll see your boy soon enough Harry.”

They are going back to LA for the weekend. It is their second to last friday of filming and they are way ahead of schedule. Luke had decided to give the day off so they could head back in time to get to Louis’ coming home party. Harry had been absolutely anxious all day. Calum couldn’t imagine what loving someone so much would feel like, being off when they’re not there. Harry brought up Louis at least a few times a day just to say his name.

Calum climbs into the back seat with Luke behind him. Michael runs up to the car, throws his bag in the trunk, and pushes Luke into the middle seat. “Let’s go!” Michael yells once the door is closed. Harry backs out of his parking space so fast that Luke ends up sprawled in Calum’s lap.

“Oops.” Harry smiles from the front seat.

“Sorry." Luke mumbles as he sits back up. The back seat hardly has enough room for the three men.

“S’okay.” Calum throws his arm around Luke’s shoulders and pulls him a bit closer so they can get comfy for the long drive. Harry’s eyes dart back and he smiles as Luke burrows into Calum’s side. Harry drops them all off at their respective homes so they can get ready and he can “greet” his fiancé.

At 8 sharp, Luke pulls up in front of Calum’s apartment building to bring him to Louis and Harry’s house in Malibu. Calum can see his car from the window. He watches as Luke gets out of the car, gets back in, gets out, paces, reaches for the car door handle, stops himself, and then walks over in an attempts to hit the buzzer, pulls back, and finally pushes the button. The entire time, Calum can’t help but think about how good Luke looks. He really out did himself, wearing a beautiful gray suit with a blue button up. His hair is perfectly styled and his tongue keeps flicking out to lick his lip ring. Calum doesn’t realize he’s staring until he hears the bell.

Calum’s apartment is embarrassingly small, especially compared to the apartments he’s sure that Luke owns. He decides to just head down rather than invite Luke to come up. He walks down the stairs and opens the door to see Luke leaning against his porsche, a street lamp behind him illuminating the sharp lines of his shoulders. Calum almost chokes on his tongue.

Luke’s eyes land on Calum and his pupils widen just a bit. He stumbles over his words when he speaks, “You look-wow, uh, hey Cal.” Luke clears his throat and smiles at Calum.

“Hey.” Calum steps out from his apartment doorway and Luke opens the car door for him. The perfect gentleman. Calum’s eyes follow Luke as he moves from one side of the car to the driver’s side. They discuss the movie as they drive the hour out to the Tomlinson mansion, a place Calum never thought he’d go.

Things with Luke have always felt comfortable but Calum thought it was because on set they were in Luke’s world. Luke was the reason for everything over the past few months, he’s the root of all the great times they’ve had filming. But out in the real world, Calum notices, Luke is just as central. The way he drives with confidence but then laughs into his hand at something Calum says. One second he is the big hollywood producer, with thousands of fans and the next he’s just this guy who Calum can lean against when he feels tired and will smile at Calum like he’s something special. Calum’s so grateful to have Luke in his life and can’t imagine what life will be like when they’re done filming. He only has one more week to enjoy this.

“We’re here.” Luke turns up a long driveway behind an open gate. On either side of the driveway are cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. “Louis’ letting me park in his garage.”

“That’s nice of him.” Calum is quite nervous to meet Louis. Louis’ good friends with all Calum’s new ones. Calum feels like if he doesn’t impress Louis then it might affect his relationship with the other men.

“Hey, don’t be worried. Lou’s going to love you. Plus this will a great way to network with producers and directors.” Luke gives Calum a soft smile and squeezes his hand. A part of Calum doesn’t want to network, he kind of only ever wants to work with Luke and Ashton. But he can see how that’d be too much to ask.

Inside Louis Tomlinson’s garage there’s about a million dollars in cars. They park between Harry’s range rover and a shiny new jeep. The music from the party happening upstairs can be heard clearly but muffled in the garage. They get out of the car and head up the stairwell. It’s loud. There’s people everywhere, mashed together with drinks in their hands. Calum recognizes at least half from the covers of albums or movie screens. Calum feels like he doesn’t belong immediately. Luke must notice because he put his arm around Calum’s back and leads him to the bar. They get a couple of beers, find a secluded corner, and joke about the ridiculous outfits some of the people are wearing.

“Luke! Luke Hemmings!” Calum sees Louis Tomlinson coming towards them with a giddy Harry Styles-soon to be Tomlinson as he likes to say- draped over his back. Harry lets go as they get closer but Louis takes hold of his hand instead as he reaches out to hug Luke with the other arm.

“Good to see you too, Lou.” Luke tucks Louis into a hug then pulls away. “This is Calum Hood, next big Hollywood star. Cal, this Louis.”

Calum holds out his hand to shake.“Nice to meet you.”

Louis grabs his hand. “So this is the Calum I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Don’t believe a word Harry says.” Calum smiles back.

Louis smirks. “Oh, Harry hasn’t said a word.”

Harry says “Lou” at the same time that Luke clenches his fists and says “Louis!”

Louis brushes them off, “Well, Calum, welcome to our home. So good to finally meet you. I’ll find you two later and we’ll talk but me and Harold still have some rounds to do.” Harry smiles and waves as Louis pulls them back into the fray.

“Little co dependent aren’t they?” Calum muses watching the couple leave.

“You have no idea. I’m actually 99% sure 'rounds' meant they were going to fuck in the bathroom.”

“Seriously? At their own party?”

Luke looks at him with serious eyes, “Especially at their own party.”

Calum can’t contain the laugh that breaks his lips. Luke just smiles and takes another sip of his beer.

Three hours later, Calum is sitting in the kitchen on a barstool watching as Luke talks to a man with peroxide blonde hair. The blonde man keeps laughing at everything Luke is saying and touching Luke’s arm. After finishing their drinks, Luke had made it his responsibility to introduce Calum to all of the directors in the room, talking him up with each one, then leaving them to chat. After a few minutes of conversation, Calum would excuse himself to find Luke again, who would repeat the process. Calum also talked with Ashton and Michael for awhile but didn’t want to bother them too much as they sat with old friends who they hadn’t seen in months.

After the last director of critically acclaimed Indy films, Calum had gone in search of Luke only to find him seemingly flirting with the blonde man. He had gotten himself another drink and found a good vantage point of the two. He’s been sitting here for ten minutes and the couple show no sign of slowing down. Calum doesn’t know how he is getting home if Luke goes home with someone else. Maybe Harry will let him stay in a guest room until tomorrow. Of course, does he really want to hear Louis and Harry having sex all night?

Speaking of the devil, Louis Tomlinson is standing in front of him. He seems to have appeared out of thin air with his hand outstretched holding a fresh beer towards Calum.

“Thanks, mate.” Calum takes the offered alcohol.

“No problem, mind if I sit?” He gestures to the stool next to Calum. Calum just nods. “You enjoying yourself?”

Calum nods again, “You’ve got a beautiful home, and everyone seems really nice.”

“Then why are you sitting here alone?”

Calum tries a goofy smile, “You’re here.”

Louis fixes him with a sharp grin. Calum has a feeling that Louis Tomlinson always knows more than he lets on. He’s looking at Calum like he knows all his deepest secrets. “I meant before, when you were staring daggers at my dear friend Niall.” He motions with his beer bottle to the man who has his arm around Luke’s shoulder as they talk to Harry.

“I wouldn’t say daggers.” Calum tries to hide behind taking another sip of beer but Louis just smirks and plows on.

“I would. You didn’t see your face. What exactly do you have against Niall?”

“Nothing. I’ve never met him before. Looks like a fun guy.” Calum doesn’t mean for the words to come out bitter, it just happens.

Louis is looking straight at him, voice level and almost mechanical. “I’m glad he got to come tonight. He used to do sound for all of Ashton’s movies. He moved back to Ireland last year when he and his wife got pregnant.” Calum almost drops his beer. He feels the smile crawl across his face as Louis continues, back to his mischievous tone. “Now why exactly do you look so happy?”

Calum turns to see Louis with his face perched on his hand, eyebrow cocked and a cheshire cat smile. Calum has absolutely no idea to what Louis is referring. He just was relieved that Luke wasn’t getting involved with anyone else. Well, anyone. The “else” wasn’t really needed unless-

“I think I like Luke.” Louis laughs at the scrunched up look of confusion on Calum’s face. Did Calum feel that way? Or was it just the night and the overwhelming feeling of being in a room full of a celebrities? The alcohol possibly? But no. There was something else, something he hadn’t been able to put a finger on lately, the feeling of wanting filming to never end, it wasn’t so much about the filming but the people. And people was Luke. Calum wanted to be near Luke. “Oh my god.”

“Did you just figure that out?” Louis has calmed down a bit and is watching Calum with genuine concern. He reached out and put his hand on Calum’s shoulder.

“I think so.”

“Wow. I’m sorry for laughing then. Having a sexuality crisis is never a good time.” Louis pushes Calum’s beer towards him.

“Louis, what do I do? He can’t find out.”

“Why not? You should just tell him.” Louis is far too calm and Calum is freaking the fuck out.

“No! He’ll think it’s weird! He won’t want to be friends with me anymore!”

Louis fixes a puzzled expression at Calum. “Do you seriously think that?”

“Of course! He probably has people falling at his feet all the time, he’ll think I’m just like them.”

“Calum, he likes you.”

“I know! I don’t want to change that.”

“No, I mean, Luke feels the same way as you do.”

“Why would he? He’s Luke Hemmings. Why would he be interested in me?”

“Calum, look me in the eye.” Calum turns. “One day, you’re going to expect me to say ‘I told you so.’ Well, I’m telling that to you now. I told you so.” Louis gets up to go put his arm around Harry. Calum sits and nurses his drink until Luke joins him. But all Calum wants to do is scooch closer and lean into Luke. Damn, Calum can’t let Luke know how he feels. This was going to make the last week terrible if just sitting next to Luke is hard.

******

It was the night before the last day of filming and six days since Calum’s talk with Louis. Fortunately for Harry, Louis had come back with them on sunday. Unfortunately for Calum, Louis constantly gave Calum looks during filming like he was enjoying the show. Of course, there was quite the show to see. Calum was constantly thinking up reasons to avoid Luke and to stay as far away from him as possible. He would duck around him in corridors, run off set as soon as possible, avoid Luke at meal times. He was so embarrassed. If Luke ever found out he’d probably pity Calum. Calum just wanted it all to go away.

Ever since he started realizing how he felt, he couldn’t stop watching Luke out of the corner of his eye. Luke was so wonderful, the last few days of filming were expertly handled and they only had one more scene to shoot tomorrow. They could’ve filmed it today but Luke said he wanted to work through the end of their time here. Calum had skipped dinner earlier and taken a nap instead. But now he’s hungry so he makes his way downstairs. He doesn’t realize until he is almost at the kitchen that there are people in there.

“The film is fantastic Luke.” Harry says from somewhere on the other side of the doorway. Calum stops right on the other side of the door to listen to them talk.

“I know.”

“Then why have you been so down lately?” Calum can see in slightly. Harry pulls out a barstool next to Luke. They’re drinking tea and Luke’s shoulders are slumped in. “Have you noticed anything odd about Calum?” Luke sounds so sad, Calum feels bad that he had anything to do with that.

“Yeah, the fact that he’s never around anymore? That’s pretty odd.” Harry says it sarcastically but with him that’s pretty close to genuine.

“I think- and I wouldn’t be mad if he did, but I think Louis might’ve said something to him at the party.”

“That doesn’t sound like Louis. He’s more the ‘lock two people in a closet until they work out their feelings’ type.”

“It might’ve been an accident or something? All I know is that Calum’s been avoiding me. So it’s that or he just figured it out on his own.” Figured what out?

Harry snorted. “Finally.”

“It’s not funny Harry. He won’t even look at me.”

“Did you seriously think he’d never figure it out? You literally fell over the first time you saw him. He’s not stupid.” Apparently Calum is, in fact, stupid since he still has no idea what Harry’s talking about. And what fall? Does he mean when Luke tripped on the first day they met? Calum had always just assumed Luke was clumsy but the longer he’d known him, Calum had realized it was pretty uncharacteristic of Luke to just fall over.

“Harry, I practically violated him that day on set when we were dancing and he still didn’t get it. If he wasn’t going to figure it out then, I assumed he never would.” So now they were talking about the day that Luke was acting as Sara. What does that have to do with anything?

“What, were you just going to keep working with him and making sure he stayed single for the rest of his life?”

“Yes! That was exactly the plan. But now he won’t want to work with me again.” Of course Calum wants to work with Luke again, he’d have to be stupid to not want that. Calum just wants a little break to breathe and get rid of this stupid crush.

“Luke. I honestly don’t think he knows. But I think maybe he should.”

What? “What?”

“I think you need to tell him.” Tell Calum what? This is ridiculous. What secret had they all been keeping from him? “

What do you want me to do? Just walk up to him and say ‘hey Calum, I know you’re straight and I have absolutely no chance with you but I’ve been stupidly in love with you this entire time. Just thought you should know. Want to work on my next film?’ That’ll definitely work.”

Calum is frozen in his spot against the wall. What? WHAT? All the pieces are sliding together. It made so much sense. All the scenes Luke had cut, how Luke had acted around him those first few weeks, every time someone laughed at Calum. They were really laughing at Luke. Because Luke liked Calum. Luke loved Calum.

“I told you,” Harry was still talking. “Louis’ gaydar is on point and he says Calum is definitely curved. Besides, you’re a catch Lukey, who wouldn’t want to date you?” Calum would most certainly not fall into the category of people who wouldn’t want to date Luke. Calum wanted to date Luke very badly.

"I don’t want to lose our friendship-”

“No, you pining from a far is not a friendship. You talk to him tomorrow. Ask him out! If he doesn’t feel the same way then you never work with him again.”

“But-”

“No. You can’t torture yourself like this again, ok? It’ll either work out or it won’t. But don’t hide it.”

There’s a pause. “You’re a good friend Harry.”

“Thanks.” As the two men in the kitchen grow silent, Calum makes his way back upstairs, thoughts reeling.

******

“Cut! That’s a wrap!” Luke calls from beside the camera. Michael immediately throws himself on Calum form where they’d been sitting on the steps of the bungalow drinking prop beer.

“I love you Calum!”

“I love you Mikey!” They roll on the ground for a few seconds until Ashton jumps on top of them and Luke laughs hard from the side. Calum looks up and catches his eyes and can’t help but smile wide. Luke’s so pretty in the sunlight. Everyone is either packing up or hugging because of a shoot well done. Harry and Louis are against the side of a trailer and Calum really doesn’t want to know where their hands are.

Luke offers Ashton a hand and they slowly get up and brush themselves off. Luke hugs Ashton first, then Michael, and ends on Calum. His smile is so bright and Calum can’t believe it took him so long to identify the feeling in his gut every time he sees Luke smile. As Luke walks up to him, Calum attaches himself to Luke’s middle. He holds on tight as Luke lets out a breath of air on an ‘oof.’

“Thank you.” Calum whispers into Luke’s ear.

“No, Thank you. This has been the best shoot.” Calum just tries to move his body closer to Luke’s. Much to his dismay, Luke decides to back away with a slight blush on his cheeks. As he’s moving away, Ashton steps behind him, not letting Luke move farther.

“Luke has something to say to you Calum.” Ashton is budging Luke closer to Calum.

“That is not true.” Luke is shaking his head.

“Come on Luke.” Michael puts a hand on Luke’s shoulder and then drags Ashton a few feet away even though they’re still obviously eavesdropping. Calum is so excited and just wants Luke to get on with it.

“Ok. Where to start? So,” Luke is messing with his hair and Calum thinks it’s absolutely adorable. “this has been really great and I’d like to work with you in the future but...I don’t think we can.”

“He’s doing it wrong.” Calum hears Ashton whisper to Michael. Calum’s a little confused too. Where is the declaration of love he’s been waiting 12 hours for?

“Why not?”

“It’s just.” Luke begins, “I....don’t really know how to say why.”

“Just say it. It’ll make you feel better, I promise.” Calum’s trying to hint but also doesn’t want to just come out and say it.

“Ok, well, I’ve kind of, well I think that I-” Luke sighs and looks down at the ground. “I have unprofessional feelings for you and I don’t think it would be good to go through another shoot like this with those feelings.”

“Ok....” Calum is waiting for him to tack on more. Luke just stands there awkwardly, not knowing whether to leave or stay.

“For christ sakes, ask the boy out Luke!” Louis shouts over from where he and Harry are watching them. Luke looks up and Louis motions for him to go on.

“Would you like to get dinner sometime? It’s ok for you to say no, don’t listen to them.” Luke still hasn’t really looked Calum in the eye.

“Definitely.”

“What?” Luke is now looking up at Calum with a questioning look on his face. Everyone else in earshot is either smiling or, in Ashton’s case, has their hands raised in victory.

“I’d love to.”

“But, I was asking as a-as a date.” Luke looks just as confused as Calum has felt the last few months. He decides to take pity on him.

“Yeah, I’d love to go on a date with you.” Luke’s jaw drops, Michael and Ashton high five, and Harry and Louis give him the thumbs up sign from behind Luke’s back. Calum just grinds his toe into the ground and clasps his hands behind his back like a proper school girl.

“Seriously?” Luke starts to smile, the corners of his mouth just flicking up. Calum nods his head.

“Yep.” Luke is smiling full out now and has his hands twisted together in front of him. He’s just standing there, vibrating with this energy that Calum has never seen before. It makes a wide grin take over Calum’s face, knowing that he has this affect on Luke. They just stand there for a few seconds, staring creepily at each other, until Luke finally really asks Calum.

“So, tomorrow? Is that good or do you need more time-”

Calum cuts him off. “Perfect.”

******

“You sure you want to do this?” Luke asks. Calum is tucked into Luke’s side in the back seat of a small limo. Hi or Hey Productions had paid for it so they could show up to the premier of their movie looking classy.

Calum is nervous and knows he won’t be able to convince Luke that he’s 100%, so he chooses a non committal answer. “I think so.”

“You really don’t-”

“I want to, I do! It’s just...kind of scary you know?” Luke looks down with the same nerves and fear Calum’s feeling fleeting about his eyes.

“Did talking to Harry help?”

“Yeah, he said I’d feel better once it was out there and we didn’t feel like we needed to hide anymore.” Luke nods his head and squeezes Calum’s shoulder, which is clothed in an insanely expensive suit that Luke made him purchase just for this occasion. “What’d Louis say?”

Luke nervously laughs. “He said business wise it was a great plan. The director and the lead actor coming out on the premier of their movie? Box office gold.” Calum’s chuckles, because it’s kind of true, but that’s not why there doing it. “Of course, he gave me some good advice as well. It was...helpful.”

They sit silent for a few minutes. Calum doesn’t know what Luke’s thinking about, but he’s reminiscing on the last 10 months that brought him to here. It’s early March now, 7 months since they’ve finished filming. While Luke has been busy in post production, Calum’s been going to higher scale auditions. He’s set to start filming another film in October. The dream of a high profile acting career is now in reach.

Being with Luke has been just as amazing. They moved in together a few months back when Calum’s lease had expired. Living together has suited them well, they’re always laughing and cuddling. They just seem to work, the two of them. They decided right around their six month anniversary that this was a serious long term relationship and it was time for them to come out. Where better than the premier of the film they made together?

“Cal?”

“Hmm?”

“Love you.”

“Love you too Lukey.” Calum pulls Luke into a hug right as the driver pulls to a stop right outside the movie premier. They sit up and Luke straightens Calum’s tie before the door is opened and they’re met by the craziness that is a film premier for an oscar winning director. Luke gets out first and waves to the crowds a bit before turning back to Calum and offering his hand with a nervous smile. Calum grabs his hand and hoists himself out of the back seat.

The crowd is amazing, there are tons of journalists and fans on either side of the stanchions as well as several celebrities on the carpet. Calum sees Michael up ahead, talking to a report. Michael, having heard them arrive, waves in their direction which both Calum and Luke return with their hands that aren’t linked. Calum is standing on the red carpet of his first big budget movie where he played the lead, holding hands with the director who somehow ended up being his boyfriend. Everything’s a little too surreal for Calum so he just looks up at Luke and plants a kiss on his cheek. Calum doesn’t miss the way Luke looks at the ground as a slight blush spreads over his face.

They walk down the carpet as reporters yell their names to try and get them to stop. They want to pick just the right person to confirm the rumors with. They finally settle on a small woman looking like she’s getting crushed by photographers who looks delighted that they stopped by her first as she gives her name and broadcast company. “So, Luke, are you expecting as much success with this movie as your others?” The woman asks.

Luke smiles wide. “I don’t really know to be honest. It all depend on the fans, if they like it or not.”

Calum buts in, looking only at the reporter as he speaks. “I think they will. The director did a brilliant job.” He looks over at Luke who is smiling unabashedly now. This is going a lot better than they expected.

“Well, I don’t think America’s going to be able to resist the leading man if I’m honest. Quite the stud.” Luke drops Calum’s hand and brings his hand up to grip Calum’s shoulder. Calum raises his arm to hold Luke’ waist.

The reporter, eyeing the two of them but probably too afraid to say anything, asks another question. “Calum, this is your first big picture. What was the process like for you?”

“Absolutely incredible. The cast and crew were so welcoming. Mikey took me out to coffee before we even began filming, he’s a good friend now. Luke, of course, is an amazing writer and director and made it so easy to act. I’m just really happy I got to work on it.” He punctuates the last sentence by squeezing Luke’s waist.

“Having Calum on set was great. He’s talented and distractingly handsome,” Calum grins wide at that while Luke just smirks. “which made it hard for me to focus but made the film ten times better.”

The reporter, apparently not wanting to talk about the fact that they are trying to come out, marches on. “Luke, do you have a favorite move you’ve worked on? If so, which of your three movies is it?”

“Easy, this one.” His face goes serious as he speaks. “My first two films were great and both were firsts in some way to me. But this one I already knew what I was getting into coming in. I made sure that I was working with the very best people, a lot of whom are good friends. And, of course, I got a boyfriend out of it so that was a major plus.” Luke looks at Calum on the last bit.

“Yeah it was.” Calum says the words to Luke and, with some courage, or maybe he just wants to push this reporter as far as he can so she might ask about the nature of their relationship, kisses Luke. Not too much, just enough to be something two friends wouldn’t do. When he pulls back, Luke is smiling and pulling Calum closer into his side while the reporter is red in the cheeks.

“So, should we expect another collaboration between you two?” Close enough.

Calum keeps his eyes on Luke. “I don’t know. Want to work with me again, Lukey?”

Luke smiles wide back. “Definitely.”


End file.
